Data and voice messaging system

Abstract

A messaging system is disclosed that includes an Internet Protocol switching network, an Internet access subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network via a first communication link, a voice access subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network via a second communication link, a mail subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network via a third communication link, and a storage subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network. The first and second communication links transfer data according to different data protocol formats.

1. A messaging system comprising:
 an Internet Protocol switching network including a first Internet Protocol switch and a second Internet Protocol switch; 
 an Internet access subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network via a first communication link; 
 a voice access subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network via a second communication link, the voice access subsystem comprising:
 at least one gateway server coupled to the first Internet Protocol switch and the second Internet Protocol switch; 
 at least one first gatekeeper coupled to the first Internet Protocol switch; and 
 at least one second gatekeeper coupled to the second Internet Protocol switch, wherein the at least one gateway server comprises a first gateway server and a second gateway server, wherein the first gatekeeper is adapted to detect failure of the first gateway server and to route calls to the second gateway server in response to detecting the failure; 
 
 a mail subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network via a third communication link; and 
 a storage subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol Switching network. 
 
   
   
     2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second communication link is configured to transfer data according to a voice over IP format, and wherein the at least one gateway server is adapted to convert time division multiplex signals to voice over IP data. 
   
   
     3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first communication link is configured to transfer data according to the hyper-text transfer protocol. 
   
   
     4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the third communication link is configured to transfer data according to an electronic mail protocol selected from the group consisting of simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), post office protocol (POP3), and Internet message access protocol four (IMAP4). 
   
   
     5. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
 a network management subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network; 
 a webserver subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network; 
 a notification subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network; 
 a directory subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network; 
 a logging subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network; and 
 a provisioning subsystem coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network. 
 
   
   
     6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the Internet access subsystem comprises an edge router, a firewall, and an intrusion detection module. 
   
   
     7. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the voice access subsystem further comprises a telephone user interface. 
   
   
     8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the Internet Protocol switching network comprises a plurality of virtual local area networks. 
   
   
     9. The system of  claim 1 , wherein a fax message is received by the voice access subsystem and is converted to a fax data message that is attached to an electronic mail message and stored as an electronic mail message with the fax attachment and wherein a voice message is received by the voice access subsystem and is converted to a voice data message that is attached to an electronic mail message and stored as an electronic mail message with the voice mail attachment. 
   
   
     10. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the voice access subsystem further comprises a first text to speech module coupled to the first Internet Protocol switch and a second text to speech module coupled to the second Internet Protocol switch. 
   
   
     11. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first text to speech module is adapted to perform text to speech conversion with respect to at least two languages. 
   
   
     12. The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least three Internet Protocol addresses are associated with the at least one gateway. 
   
   
     13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein a first Internet Protocol address of the at least three Internet Protocol addresses is associated with the first Internet Protocol switch, wherein a second Internet Protocol address of the at least three Internet Protocol addresses is associated with the second Internet Protocol switch, and wherein a third Internet Protocol address of the at least three Internet Protocol addresses is a loop-back address. 
   
   
     14. The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the Internet access subsystem, the voice access subsystem, the mail subsystem, and the storage subsystem comprises a virtual local area network coupled to the Internet Protocol switching network. 
   
   
     15. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a directory subsystem comprising at least one active master directory server, at least one standby master directory server, and a plurality of shadow directory servers. 
   
   
     16. The system of  claim 15 , wherein changes made to a copy of a directory stored at the at least one active master directory server are propagated to the at least one standby master directory server, and to the plurality of shadow directory servers, and wherein changes made to a copy of the directory stored at the at least one of the plurality of shadow directory servers are propagated to the at least one active master directory server, and to the at least one standby master directory server. 
   
   
     17. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first gatekeeper is further adapted to designate a communication trunk to the first gateway server as busy after detecting failure of the first gateway server. 
   
   
     18. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a logging server adapted to log activities associated with the at least one gateway server, wherein the at least one gateway server is adapted to maintain a log of the activities associated with the at least one gateway server in the event of a failure of the logging server.